Wednesday marks five months since Nebraska Medicine released the state’s first Ebola Virus patient, cured of the virus after treatment in Omaha. From his home in Massachusetts, Dr. Rick Sacra spoke with KETV’s Brandi Petersen about how he’s doing, why he returned to Liberia and his message to those watching his story in Nebraska.

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Dr. Sacra arrived in Omaha September 5, 2014 under heavy security and intense health precautions. Aerial video from the Nebraska State Patrol showed paramedics, in full suits and masks, moving a very sick Sacra on a stretcher from the ambulance into the Nebraska Medical Center. Sacra was one of the first health care workers to be flown from Africa back the United States for treatment, and the first patient to be treated in Nebraska Medicine’s bio containment unit.

Three weeks later, cured of the virus that is often fatal, Dr. Sacra left the Nebraska Medical Center.

“I’m feeling good,” Sacra told Petersen from his home in Holden, Massachusetts. “I’m pretty much back to normal.”

Dr. Sacra returned from Liberia two weeks ago, the same place he contracted Ebola while working at a hospital. On this most recent trip, Sacra treated Liberian patients for approximately 3.5 weeks.

“It certainly gave me a renewed sensitivity to the risks that our healthcare workers are taking every day,” said Sacra. “It helped me really understand and really empathize with the fear and concern they’re feeling. Helped me to appreciate how courageous they are to come to work every day. They’re facing the same risks I did with Ebola and they’re unlikely to get flown to an excellent facility like the bio containment unit in Nebraska.”

Sacra says he never had second thoughts about returning to Liberia, despite his illness.

“We're really doing the best we can for our patients. It's very satisfying and it's what I love to do, so no, I didn't have a thought about it,” said Sacra. “And besides, at this point I'm immune to Ebola.”

Dr. Sacra plans to return again in a few months. He says West Africa is making strides against Ebola but the crisis is not over yet.

“Somebody who's running a marathon and is on mile 20 out of 26, does that person say, 'well, I've come a long way, maybe I can relax and slow down and take a break.' No, you don't. You keep pressing,” said Sacra. “The report I saw yesterday said 14 cases in the last 21 days, the last three weeks, confirmed in Liberia. So, still, almost a case every day. We’re not satisfied with that.”

Sacra says the final stages in battling this epidemic will be the hardest, as part of the challenge becomes gaining people’s trust and helping them change socially, for instance, how they mourn a death and care for the sick in their communities.

Here in Omaha, KETV recently learned at least eight people possibly exposed to Ebola have been monitored privately outside the bio containment unit. Sacra says what doctors have learned from cases like his should put many Omaha concerns at ease.

“People who’ve been exposed to Ebola or possibly exposed to Ebola, but who are not ill, do not pose a risk,” said Sacra, noting evidence through cases in New York and Texas. “Early in the illness, the disease is relatively hard to spread. If those people don’t have symptoms, they’re really not a threat.”

Sacra has another message for anyone following his story from Omaha, a place he calls his adoptive city.

“Thank you. Thanks for allowing me to receive care there in Omaha,” said Sacra. “Thanks for adopting me as an honorary Nebraskan.”

He also has a message for his fellow doctors at Nebraska Medicine, men and women he says will always be his friends.

“I owe my life to them,” said Sacra. “The impact they made on my life in having dividends across the ocean in West Africa. I only hope that by continuing my service in Liberia, in a sense, I hope that's giving them a feeling like, 'yea, that was worth it’.”

Dr. Sacra hopes to return to Omaha this spring for an anniversary celebration at Nebraska Medicine.